Go Habs Go!

[EagerBeaver]

I did some research and it seems this all started with a coach named Al MacNeil, who coached the Habs in the early 1970s and actually won a Stanley Cup. He apparently butted heads with Henri Richard, who then publicly accused MacNeil of favoring anglophone players. Who knows if that was actually true, but the Henri Richard perception and accusation became reality. MacNeil was fired and then couldn't get a coaching job in the NHL. The perfectly bilingual Scotty Bowman was his replacement.

In my own mind no coach in the modern NHL, where the pressure to win is enormous and firings are common, is going to do anything other than play the best players that give the team the best chance to win. It doesn't even make sense to play favorites with players for any reason other than their hockey skills. So this notion of only hiring "French friendly" coaches is born of ignorance and stupidity of the realities of the league, which are that all coaches want to win, will play their best players in order to do so, and will be fired if they don't. If they are hiring a Francophone coach for the benefit of the media instead of his actual coaching acumen, that's an even stupider reason as I am guessing that most of the members of the Montreal media are bilingual. And if they aren't, then maybe they should be in that profession, which involves covering both Francophone and Anglophone players of many sports. There should be a zero tolerance for this kind of reverse bigotry and bias in sports.

 

[gaby]

WOW......incapable de marquer en o/t avec un avantage numérique 4-3 pendant 4 min.....mais gagnent en s/o......et quel but de DACH.....quand même......comme on dit....pas comment MAIS combien....lol.....autre grosse soirée pour ALLEN....

 

[Doc Holliday]

Une autre defaite ce soir contre la pire equipe du hockey. Le CH s’ennuie de Monahan!

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

Une autre defaite ce soir contre la pire equipe du hockey. Le CH s’ennuie de Monahan!

Match archi plate, Mtl complètement flat, trop de passagers dans ce club, faudra être patients avant que le ménage soit complet!

 

[gaby]

Ouin.....the party is over... le reste de la saison risque fort d'être rock'n roll.......

 

[Womaniser]

Ouin.....the party is over... le reste de la saison risque fort d'être rock'n roll.......

At least we can see young players develop.
And improvement in the team drafting rank.

 

[Doc Holliday]

At least we can see young players develop.
And improvement in the team drafting rank.

You sound just like a Sens or Sabres fan.

 

[EagerBeaver]

You sound just like a Sens or Sabres fan.

Since you mentioned Sabres player development how about a shout out to the Sabres for developing UConn's Tage Thompson who is now 2nd in the NHL with 24 goals? This kid has grown 2 inches since he was a 6'5" freshman at UConn and is now 6'7" and by far the tallest pure goal scorer among the top 5 of the NHL.

The Habs are doing a similar good job developing Caulfield, who is a full foot shorter than Thompson, into their own top goal scorer!

It's something to cheer about if not the wins. Develop the youths!

 

[Doc Holliday]

It's something to cheer about if not the wins. Develop the youths!

Yeah do like Edmonton, Calgary & Ottawa: develop the youth & then when they reach age 26 they’re fed up of always losing so they tell their current teams that it’s no use trying to re-sign them when their current contracts expire at the end of the season so they can trade them now or wait until the season ends & they’ll walk away for nothing in return.

Edmonton has two of the top 5 players in hockey in Mcdavid & Draisaitl & both will likely be gone once their current contract expires. It’s only a matter of time. Calgary already lost Mathew Tkachuk & Johnny Gaudreau because they refused to re-sign. Ottawa has already been through this in the past & will see history repeat itself again a couple of years from now with Brady Tkachuk & other promising players like Stutzle. Today a well respected hockey writer wrote that a rebuilding hockey team’s fans often have higher expectations of a rebuild since it usually takes quite a few years for it to be successful. And quite often things don’t turn out as expected & there seems to be no end in sight to the rebuild. Then the fans lose patience, the team’s media loses patience, ownership loses patience then team management, the scouting & coaching staff get fired & they all have to start over again & players the organization has developed end up playing elsewhere. Unless…you get lucky.

By the way Tage Thompson was drafted by the St.Louis Blues & was eventually traded to Buffalo in a blockbuster trade that netted the Blues Ryan O’Reilly, who led the Blues to the Stanley Cup & he was also awarded the Conn Smyth trophy as playoffs MVP. So the trade worked out for the Blues while the Sabres are expected to miss the playoffs again. Sigh!

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

Un autre match atroce des Canadiens.
Chapeau à Jake, belle performance.
Mention honorable à Drouin, Dach et bien sûr, Anthony Richard, quel coup de patin!

Il est de plus en plus évident que les autres équipes ont saisi la recette contre Montréal: appliquer un échec avant agressif et soutenue, toute l'équipe devient déstabilisée et nerveuse. Je ne comprends pas pourquoi Mtl n'utilise pas ses gros joueurs pour appliquer plus de solide mises en échec, en attaque mais surtout en défense.

Ensuite il est grand temps que quelqun de qualifié prenne en charge l'avantage numérique, c'est rendu une vrai farce.

 

[gaby]

oui....agree....et ce qui s'en vient en 2ème partie de la saison ne sera pas beau......l'ont eu plutôt facile jusqu'à présent MAIS à compter de maintenant vont jouer très souvent contre des top teams......et avec beaucoup de bois mort au sein de l'équipe
ça va fesser dans le dash.....lollll

 

[gaby]

Hey Boboy.....de mal en pis .....est-ce bien ça le chemin de la reconstruction?????....plutôt celui du désarroi total......avec des vets. inanimés qui jouent sans passion/sans motivation comme des fantômes-sauf GALLAGHER.......et des jeunes en pleine déroute...
même ceux y a pas si longtemps qui étaient en feu semblent dépassés/découragés......beau spectacle...lol...

Et oh question?....qu'en est -il de LECAVALIER qui en sandales dans le sable agissait comme conseiller spécial.....est-il toujours là ou---decouragé--a t-il tiré la plogue...???
Et que dire de notre valeureux PRICE..qui à des milliers de kilomètres préfère astiquer ses armes pour la chasse.......et croyez-moi ses démons doivent être tout autour.........doit bien se bidonner avec son body WEBER.....lollll

Country Club vous dites???????

Mais l'important au fond pour JEFF c'est que la bonne bière continue de couler à flot....et que les fans fassent la vague.......and life is beautiful.....lollll.....my 2 cents en cette fin d'année.

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

Hey Boboy.....de mal en pis .....est-ce bien ça le chemin de la reconstruction?????..

N'oublie pas que c'est ce qui était prévu dès l'arrivée des nouveaux dirigeants. Tout le monde s'entendait pour affirmer qu,'on allait devoir se taper 2-3 années de misères. On est très désavantagé par tout ces gros contrats de vétérans qui, pour beaucoup, ne font que remplir un chandail, en vidant le compte de banque du club.

Les jeunes ont réussi à créer une certaine illusion mais dans la LNH les vrais clubs se lèvent toujours après le thanksgiving américain. C'est la date à laquelle se départagent les hommes des enfants, immanquablement. Y en aura pas de miracles.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Terrible team once again! On the plus side it means they’re improving their drafting position for the 2023 draft but on the negative side the younger players are getting used to losing & this may affect their development. I can’t understand why Slafkovski wasn’t loaned to the Czech junior team where he could have gained confidence & possibly re- discover his scoring touch. What is going on right now isn’t helping him. I’m starting to wonder if he’s not on his way to become the next Jesperi Kotkaniemi…another of many young players the habs ruined by rushing him into the NHL instead of letting them mature & learn to improve their game in the minors or juniors.

The big problem is that previous management left them with bad long term contracts. Injuries to key veterans has hurt them but injuries are part of the game & every team has them over a long season. What see a bigger problem & i said so months ago is a tremendous lack of experienced coaching behind the bench. At least last season they had Luke Richardson to count on as far as coaching experience goes. But Martin St.Louis didn’t help his own cause by surrounding himself with inexperienced coaches.

And finally it seems to me that management would like to unload veteran players on either expiring or bad contracts. But so far they’ve been greedy which is why they haven’t made any deals this season. Supposedly the asking price for Jake Allen, who’s been terrible this season…a first-round draft pick! He’s a veteran back-up goalie having a terrible season & they expect a team would give up a first-round pick for him? Are they crazy? And they also seem unwilling to pay a price to get other teams to agree to take on veteran players with bad contracts. The asking price for Joel Edmondson is also a first-round pick. He’s slower than he ever was & having a very bad year. My guess is that they’re hoping he & Jake Allen rediscover their game & will likely wait until the middle of next season to trade them. Good luck!

 

[Bignose]

Les fans sont aveuglés, la coupe Stanley et les victoires sont juste pour les fans, les proprios veulent le cash et ils l'ont point.
Les articles dérivés sont tellement payant, exemple, dans le temps Éric Lindros gagnait 8 mi!lions par année, juste les ventes de son chandail et autres trucs rapportaient 16 millions aux Flyers, alors qui fourre qui ??????
Quel homme d'affaire investirait presque un milliard sans source de revenu????
Donc, la coupe Stanley et les victoires on s'en fout.......
Continuez à payer 12 dollars la bière, les proprios sont mort de rire.
Ha oui, les victoires, ha ha ha bien oui, faut jouer le jeu , on fait les pas contents à la caméra, ..... . si il y a trop de grogne on paie un coach à rien faire et on le le remplace , les $$$$ continuent de rentrer, qui fourre qui ha ha ha .

$12 puis cest un draft ca coute $1 pour pomper un draft salaire de staff inclu

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

Come on Doc, you cant seriously believe everything you read on the web! Fake transaction rumours have been around even before the existence of internet. Who can seriously claim to know what is really going on in Kent Hugues or Jeff Gorton's offices? Have you heard about some low life sports journalist tapping their phone?

 

[MrProfiteroles]

Terrible team once again! On the plus side it means they’re improving their drafting position for the 2023 draft but on the negative side the younger players are getting used to losing & this may affect their development. I can’t understand why Slafkovski wasn’t loaned to the Czech junior team where he could have gained confidence & possibly re- discover his scoring touch. What is going on right now isn’t helping him. I’m starting to wonder if he’s not on his way to become the next Jesperi Kotkaniemi…another of many young players the habs ruined by rushing him into the NHL instead of letting them mature & learn to improve their game in the minors or juniors.

The big problem is that previous management left them with bad long term contracts. Injuries to key veterans has hurt them but injuries are part of the game & every team has them over a long season. What see a bigger problem & i said so months ago is a tremendous lack of experienced coaching behind the bench. At least last season they had Luke Richardson to count on as far as coaching experience goes. But Martin St.Louis didn’t help his own cause by surrounding himself with inexperienced coaches.

And finally it seems to me that management would like to unload veteran players on either expiring or bad contracts. But so far they’ve been greedy which is why they haven’t made any deals this season. Supposedly the asking price for Jake Allen, who’s been terrible this season…a first-round draft pick! He’s a veteran back-up goalie having a terrible season & they expect a team would give up a first-round pick for him? Are they crazy? And they also seem unwilling to pay a price to get other teams to agree to take on veteran players with bad contracts. The asking price for Joel Edmondson is also a first-round pick. He’s slower than he ever was & having a very bad year. My guess is that they’re hoping he & Jake Allen rediscover their game & will likely wait until the middle of next season to trade them. Good luck!

Seriously Doc, I think it's time you start a new thread call "Habs sucks!" Lol!

 

[gaby]

Bon enfin ...bon weekend à N.YORK.......deux belles performances......bel effort collectif et agressivité.......c'est tout ce qu'on leur demande......peuvent rivaliser avec des équipes talentueuses-----non imposantes/costaudes comme les JETS---OILERS---CAPS-----et donner un bon spectacle......MONTEMBEAULT a été great avec autour de 80 tirs en 2 games......je persiste à dire qu"il faut l'utiliser sur une base régulière d'ici la fin de la saison......on a rien à perdre....faut voir de quel bois il se chauffe......à jouer régulièrement ne peut qu'augmenter sa confiance...et corriger certains gestes de nervosité......je l'aime bcp et ne voudrais pas le perdre.....my 2 cents en ce Lundi d'hiver ensoleillé.......enjoy.

 

[IamNY]

I had seen more Habs jerseys last night than Rangers jerseys in Manhattan. Most of the bars were full watching the Giants wild card win. Congrats to the Canadian's for coming into town and beating up on the local talent.

 

[gaby]

WOW.....je ne m"y attendais vraiment pas......victoire décisive/impressionnante sur les puissants JETS.......enfin certains sortent du placard...lolll.....et que dire de SAMUEL.....étincelant.......gagne en confiance....en pleine éclosion.....congrats jeune homme.